Nibunnoichi! GXP!
by Lord Raa
Summary: Your fiend, Lord Raa, strikes again. Actual chapters are now up (for what they're worth).
1. Round one, starters for ten

Nibunnoichi! GXP!

By Lord Raa

Disclaim-me-do: Insert coin to play.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Round one, starters for ten, no conferring.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

In the Saotome home, Nodoka looked over the seppuku pledge her husband and son had signed.

"Genma, I can't say that I'm happy about you taking Ranma away from me for so long, but seeing that you might do something foolish if I don't, I'll allow you take him with you. But if you're only able to keep one promise, make sure he's a man among men."

"Of course, No-chan. Ranma will make you proud!" Genma boasted as he hugged his wife.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

During Ranma's training trip, Nodoka was visited by a certain silver-haired goddess of the past.

"Hello Nodoka Saotome. My name is Urd; I'm with the Goddess Relief Help-line. It is our duty to seek out mortals in distress and provide assistance whenever we can. What is your heart's desire?"

"How did you know my name?"

"I'm a goddess. I know that you are concerned about your family. Is there anything I do to help relieve your anxiety?"

Nodoka pondered that excellent question for a moment. "My son, Ranma. I have a strange feeling that many lives will revolve around his well being. I know that he will be a man among men, but just that I wish that he will be able to fulfil his destiny. Can you help at all?"

"I think that I can help out a bit," Urd smiled.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

A few years later, about the time Ranma was in junior high with Ryoga.

Genma was not happy. He'd just received his final pay packet from the manual labourer's job he'd taken to feed himself and Ranma when he noticed their campsite had been robbed.

Actually, the only thing still there was the fire pit.

Now Genma was not above a spot of thievery to keep him in booze, but he'd tried to tone down the illegal acts lately as Ranma had pointed out an increased police presence. Though he suspected the boy was developing a moral compass somewhat akin to those troublesome teachers at the local school.

He knew that they'd need new equipment and that would leave enough money for either alcohol OR food. And as Ranma was beginning to surpass his own level, he needed the stress relieving and pain numbing effects of sake.

Urd looked on at the scene before her, knowing what had happened. She had a bad feeling about what she was going to do, but it was a better option then allowing the plans of those sick men who'd had their beady gaze focused on the young pig-tailed martial artist.

Adjusting her appearance to look more motherly, she walked up to Genma.

"Excuse me; are you the legal guardian of Ranma Saotome?

"Yes. What can I do for you?"

Urd shuddered as she felt the unclean gaze of Genma undress her. "I was looking for a suitable husband for my daughter. I want her to be taken care of when she comes of age. I asked her if there was a boy she liked, and well your son's name came up."

"How did she find out about him? He goes to an all boy's school," Genma had noticed that girls had started to be attracted to Ranma and had to plan accordingly. It wouldn't do for the boy to find a girlfriend and mess up his retirement plans.

Urd realized she'd made a mistake, but quickly covered her slip. "She'd heard that there was a young martial artist of incredible skill in the area. She investigated and found your son."

"What's your daughter's name?" Genma asked.

"Urd." 'Damn, I've just gone and engaged myself to Ranma Saotome. Why did I have to get engaged to one of the hardest men in history to bed?'

"My son is important to me, why should I engage him to your daughter?" Genma questioned the woman in front of him. Ranma was important to him. Certainly his ability to run the Tendo dojo and compensate his father for all the sacrifices he'd been forced to make.

"I'll pay a handsome dowry." Urd was beginning to get a nasty feeling about this whole deal with Genma. No, wait that was just the hand on her thigh. (1) "This deal's only good for the next minute. It's enough to keep you in food for a while and take you on the next leg of your trip."

"We were planning to go to China next. I accept your gracious offer."

"Excellent, now sign this contract."

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

China, a few years later.

Far above the surface of Earth, a ship of alien origin orbited in search of a powerful being. A creature so powerful, that it could easily be mistaken for a divine being by less technologically advanced people.

A voice of electronic origin sounded. "Detective, we've found Saffron."

The elegant humanoid female looked up from her book with excitement in her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes Detective Kaunaq," the computer replied. "We picked up his signature a few moments ago. It looks like he might be casing trouble again."

Detective Second Class Amane Kaunaq smiled. Capturing the infamous criminal Saffron would surely earn her a commendation and maybe even a promotion.

"Wait a minute!" the computer warned. "His life signs are fluctuating."

Amane frowned. The warrant did say dead or alive, but she would get more kudos from her superiors, not to mention a "get out of teaching at the Academy card", if she brought him in alive.

"Keep scanning, Kenji. I want more information before we make the arrest."

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

Down on a certain mountain in China, Ranma was in the fight of his life and that of his fiancée. His opponent was like no other he'd fought before.

A warrior-king of legend, one that had stepped out of the pages of a book of myths from the Bronze Age period of human history, stood before the cursed martial artist.

"Foolish mortal! Did you really think that your puny land based fighting style can defeat me?"

Ranma panted and prepared his last attack. If this didn't work, he would lose and then everything that he had worked for during the last ten years of his life would be lost and he would be forgotten. If he was to be remembered, his name would live on only as a term for failing at the final hurdle, if at all.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha! Revised – horizontal technique!" the pigtailed boy yelled as launched a horizontal tornado at the fiery winged man in front of him.

As the phoenix's flames were extinguished, a small star ship came hurtling through the atmosphere streaking past the collapsing fighters.

The advanced spacecraft circled the mountain range, scanning for the fugitive. When the travellers from Nerima left, Amane had discovered what had happened and landed near the egg that contained Saffron. Taking the subdued fugitive aboard her vessel, she read the newly apprehended suspect his rights.

One of which he exercised, though not by choice.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

In Nerima, a few days after the failed attempt to join the schools of Anything Goes in matrimony, Happousai was angry with his worthless heir. Again. If it wasn't the little punk's lack of respect, it was his interference in the diminutive martial artist's divine mission to free the silky darlings.

Plus the damn kid was still upset about his drinking that water.

Of course, Happousai saw nothing wrong with his actions – if anything, he felt gypped as there was no booze.

"And they have the nerve to call that a celebration," the troll grumbled. A thought occurred to the aged martial artist. "I know just the thing to punish him."

He reached inside his gi and pulled out a scroll that would enable him to summon a demon.

After a few incantations, a puff of smoke appeared in the spare room. From the centre, a bestial figure appeared, though its head remained obscured by the smoke, and demanded the reason for disturbing it. It spoke in a deep, rumbling voice

"I need you to punish a punk that's been causing an innocent old man trouble," Happousai lied.

"What's in it for me?" the deep voice appeared interested in the bargain.

"What do you want?"

"I want a soul. Is yours up for offer?"

"N-no." Happousai was beginning to think that this was a bad idea.

A face became clearly visible to the grand-master of Anything Goes. "Then it is you who shall be punished for treating me as a plaything. I do not appreciate being lied to."

Realising that he'd committed a bit of a faux pas, Happousai made his way from the room.

Soon after that, he found himself dodging lightning bolts.

"Where's that punk kid when you need him?" he groused.

"What ya dun now, ya old freak?" Ranma greeted him from the top of the stairs.

"Ranma m'boy! Just the person I wanted to see. Be a good boy and deal with that, will you?" Happousai gestured to the rather angry looking demon behind him.

"Crap!" Ranma exclaimed as he took a defensive stance and stood in front of the evil spirit.

"You."

"What?"

"You will make a suitable sacrifice."

"What you talkin' about?" Ranma maintained his stance.

Genma and other Tendos had arrived on the scene just in time to hear the next bit of the demon's explanation.

"I need to be appeased. The two methods of sacrifice are to spill the blood of the innocent or someone willingly gives up their soul. I am ambivalent as to your choice."

Nabiki looked at the troublesome freeloader. "Just what have you done now, Ranma?"

"I didn't do anything!" Ranma protested loudly. "It was the old freak!"

The doorbell rang, interrupting the debate momentarily.

"Hello? Is Ranma there? I need to speak with him and my husband," Nodoka called out.

Another female voice called out. "Yes, I'd like to meet my fiancé, Ranma Saotome."

All eyes turned to the Saotomes present.

"Don't look at me!" Ranma, as usual, protested his innocence whenever a new fiancée arrived at the Tendo dojo.

The unfamiliar voice called out again. "My mother said that I could meet him and my father-in-law here."

Recognition flashed in the demon's obsidian coloured eyes. "Urd!" it growled.

Genma started to sweat. The perspiration was coming off in buckets when he heard Nodoka walk up the stairs with her guest.

"Excuse me, which one is my fiancé, Ranma Saotome?" a silver haired woman asked.

Akane saw the dress the newcomer was barely wearing and turned to her fiancé. "Ranma! You pervert!"

"SILENCE MORTALS!" the demon bellowed, angry at being ignored.

Soun was glad that he, unlike Genma, wore a dark coloured gi.

The foreign looking woman appraised the "evil spirit". "You're not fooling me, Mara."

"What?" Happousai asked the silver haired beauty. The pervert had returned when he saw that house was still standing. "That's a demon, right?"

"Yes, Mara is a demon. But, she doesn't look like that normally. What gives, Mara?"

"I was summoned by the troll. I showed up but he didn't have anything to offer in exchange for punishing the boy," the demon replied, slowly turning back to her normal form. "Why are you here?"

"I think that it would be best to discuss this over tea," Nodoka suggested. "After all, I would like to know why my son has picked up another fiancée."

"So would I," Ranma added, glaring at his father.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

As the guests of the Tendos sat down and drank their tea, Urd explained the circumstances behind her engagement to Ranma.

"As part of Mrs Saotome's wish that Ranma fulfil his destiny as a 'man among men', I had to step in to assist Ranma a couple of times. The most recent one was just before Ranma left for China."

"What did you do, Miss Urd?" Kasumi politely asked.

"Some people had engineered a situation where Ranma wouldn't have been able to continue the training trip."

"And just how does that mean you're engaged to this playboy?" Nabiki asked, not seeing all the pieces of the puzzle.

"I had to come up with a way of funding a leg of their journey, the best way I could think of was to offer a dowry for Ranma's hand in marriage," Urd explained with a wistful smile.

"So why are you after Ranma, Mara?" Nodoka asked the demon.

"There is a price to pay for the type of summoning that Happousai performed. I'm still waiting for payment," Mara replied with a shrug.

Urd frowned. "One of those contracts?"

"Yep, unfortunately, this spell requires a payment regardless of whether or not any work is done on my part," Mara apologised

"What is it that the contract demands?" Nabiki asked, intrigued by the whole situation.

"Either a willingly sacrificed soul or I spill the blood of a few innocents. To tell you the truth, I'd really rather not have been the only available demon for this job - I never did care much for bloodshed."

"So what about this 'willing sacrifice bit'?" Nodoka asked the two outsiders.

"It's a karmic thing," Urd answered. "The souls have special powers for the denizens of the spirit world. Demons gain more kudos for corrupting a pure soul than that of, how shall I put it, capturing a less pure one."

"Just as goddesses gain more kudos for redeeming the less pure souls," Mara looked at the assembled Tokyo natives. "Ideally, the best soul for me would be the eldest Tendo daughter."

Ranma looked at the demon. "No."

"What?" Nodoka asked her son, trying to ignore the wailing man to her left.

"I said 'no'. It's the duty of martial artists to protect those that can't fight for themselves. I will go in Kasumi's place."

Soun stopped wailing for long enough to acknowledge that his beloved daughters wouldn't be sacrificed to this demon, no matter how shapely she was.

"We still have a problem," Mara sighed.

"What do you mean?" Nodoka asked.

"The problem is this: either I get a willing sacrifice or spill the blood of a few innocents in payment for my trouble. Since someone is willing to go with me, I have to take that as the option. For that I am thankful."

"So where is the problem?" Kasumi asked, not seeing the dilemma.

"The person willing to be sacrificed is already promised to another in a binding contract – me," Urd explained.

"Just how binding is this contract?" Nabiki asked, hoping to find a way out of this for her money maker. She knew the story of the goose that laid the golden eggs.

"Let's just say that events will conspire to prevent Ranma from marrying anybody other than me. You don't think it's a bit strange that things stop people from getting too close to Ranma keep happening do you?"

"What do you mean?" Soun demanded from the goddess.

"Certain water-based curses? The rival suitors finding out about the wedding? Ranma's life has been so highly scripted and choreographed, that you'd think that it was a work of fiction," Mara pointed out.

"Yes," Urd added, "in fact, something completely out of the blue is about to happen."

"Wha…?" Ranma was cut off by the noise of an alien spaceship landing in the Tendo garden.

A blonde woman stepped off the boarding platform. Removing her sunglasses, she introduced herself. "Hello there, I'm GP Detective Kaunaq. I'm looking for the man that defeated the criminal known as Saffron. Is he here?"

Genma and Akane pointed to Ranma, who waved hesitantly.

Ranma was beginning to get a bad feeling about this whole situation.

'Oh, he's a cutie.' "Hello. My superiors want me to speak with you about joining the Galaxy Police, or GP as it's more commonly known."

"Why?" Nodoka asked, not having been made aware of the events in China.

"Saffron is an incredibly powerful being that was wanted for numerous crimes against the citizens of the galaxy. Ranma managed to beat him single handed and that enabled me to capture him. He confessed his crimes and told us who it was that beat him. Now the chief of police wants to talk to you, she thinks that you have the potential to a fine GP officer," Kaunaq briefly explained.

"Ahh, so that's what happened to Saffron," Urd mused.

"You know Saffron?" the blonde asked the goddess.

"We used to be a couple. So he's behind bars now? Oh well, it just goes to show that there's no helping some people," Urd shrugged.

"You were going to help my son fulfil his destiny, what is it?" Nodoka asked the platinum haired deity.

"He's going to bring peace and order to the galaxy," Urd finally revealed.

"Or at least try to," Nabiki snidely added. "You know he's just going to end up causing more trouble than he stops."

"Yeah, he can't go a day without fighting," Akane added.

Ranma refrained from commenting on the short haired girls' remarks, not wanting to upset his mother.

"Ranma," Urd shook the boy gently out of his trance.

"What?"

"This is your destiny," she gestured to the space going vessel.

"I see." Ranma rubbed his race with his left hand. "So what happens now?"

"You come with me to the GP headquarters; we interview you and then decide if you're a suitable candidate," Amane Kaunaq enlightened the pigtailed martial artist.

"But what about the pledge to unite the schools?" Soun asked.

Amane didn't see why there was all the fuss about Ranma running this rundown dojo. "It's up to Ranma if he wants to run a dojo. If he signs this contract, he'll be free of all his earthly obligations."

Not knowing what to do, Ranma turned to his mother.

"Do it son, make me proud of you," Nodoka patted her son on the shoulder.

"Ok, I'll do it."

"Nice, but there is still a problem," Mara drew attention to herself and Urd.

"What do you mean?" detective Kaunaq asked.

"We already have two contracts, one divine, and the other infernal. Both of them take precedence over any mortal agreement but are in conflict with each other," Mara informed the alien police officer.

"Why is it that you want Ranma, Mara?" Urd asked her old friend/rival. "There are easier and juicier souls out there."

"I know," Mara grinned at the goddess. "It's the same reason you don't object to marrying him."

"Hey! That's to fulfil his mother's wish," Urd protested. "That's why I engaged myself to Ranma."

"I never said otherwise," Mara raised her hands defensively. "What I merely said that it was the same reason you don't object to the union. He is quite lovely."

"True enough, but I'm not going to let you condemn him to the netherworld."

"Who said I was after his eternal soul?" the lady demon smirked, enjoying her game with her rival. "I just want some time with that body of his – the rest of his mortal life."

Ranma froze as he felt two hands caress his chest and the gentle breath of Mara on his neck.

"Ow! Ow!" Mara yelped as she felt a pinching on her hands.

"I don't think so, Mara. I may be a goddess of love, but there're a few things I won't tolerate. First and foremost is another women's hands on my husband," Urd growled.

"He's not married to you," Genma interjected. "He must join the schools of Anything Goes."

"But what about the contract you signed?" Urd placed a piece of paper on the table.

"Not again, Genma? What was the dowry this time? All you can eat Shabu-shabu?" Soun asked his old friend.

"Not according to this," Nabiki informed the rest of her family and guests. "It was a healthy sum of cash. Enough for them to fly to China and back. First class."

Genma found himself hoisted up by his gi and face to face with his son. "You made me swim to China and we could have taken a boat or even a plane?"

"But it did wonders for your stamina," the bald man protested weakly.

Urd considered this fact and nodded in approval. "Yes, I can see just where that will come in handy."

Mara "hmmed" in agreement.

Amane coughed politely. "Well as much as I like Earth, I have to be going. Ranma, no one is going to force to join the GP, we just want to talk with you."

Urd recognised that the blonde had an aura of "temptress" about her and took steps to ensure Ranma's "safety". "I will accompany Ranma on this trip. After all, it will allow us to get to know each other better."

"Yes, I think that that is an excellent idea," Nodoka agreed heartily.

"But what about me?" Mara asked. "I'll get into a lot of trouble if I don't get my sacrifice."

"But you're a demon," Nabiki pointed out, "why would we care what happens to you?"

Mara invaded Nabiki's personal space in the blink of an eye. "What was that you said? It sounded an awful lot like 'I, Nabiki Tendo, will be the one to go with you, Mara' to me."

Nabiki gulped. "By all means, follow Ranma around the cosmos. It wouldn't do for you to lose out to Urd without a fight."

"So that's what you said?" Mara asked with a smirk.

Nabiki nodded vigorously, hoping that the scary woman would leave very soon.

"I guess my ears are dirty. Ranma, perhaps a bath is in order?" Mara appeared at the side of her new object of interest. "Maybe we can wash each other's fronts?"

"Mara!" Urd growled.

"Ladies, perhaps you can finish this later, I have to get back to the Chief with Ranma," Amane interrupted the bickering immortals.

"Aren't you going to do anything about Ranma being taken away, Akane?" Kasumi asked her youngest sister.

"I'm tired of his crap," Akane grumbled. "Feh, that pervert deserves to be abducted and anally probed by aliens for all the trouble he put me through."

Nodoka frowned at her previously preferred choice of daughter-in-law. "Perhaps it would be best for Ranma to leave Nerima, it obviously does not agree with him."

Mara smirked as her spell worked its sinister magic on the Tokyo natives. "I guess that they don't want you here, Ranma. More fool them, if you ask me."

"Yes, more fool them," Amane agreed as she pulled Ranma aboard her ship and quickly left the atmosphere.

"Damn!" the two allegedly mythical beings cursed.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

To be continued?

(1) This is what Nodoka would call "manly behaviour". And let's not forget that Urd is quite lovely.

Thanks go out to Chi Vayne for pre-reading this silliness.

I'll try to fill in some of the more obvious plot holes in the coming chapters.

Feel free to leave your comments in your usual manner.

My email address is lordraaATdigitalpimpDOTcoDOTuk


	2. Round two, fingers on the buzzer

Nibunnoichi! GXP!

By Lord Raa

* * *

Disclaim-me-do: I said "no conferring." Now you must be punished… 

I think reading this will suffice…

Please note that the Tenchi elements in this story are going to be AU, so no complaints about any omissions or major changes this time.

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

In Nerima, the Tendo and Saotome families were coming to terms with the fact that Ranma had technically been abducted by an alien. 

"Who knows what that pervert's doing to that woman!" Akane huffed angrily.

Nodoka sighed gently before steeling herself, lest she show any kind of weakness in front of the visitors.

Urd knew that the short haired girl was just protesting for the sake of appearances and smiled knowingly at Nodoka.

Mara pouted at the loss of a potential boyfriend/love slave, but decided to make the best of her excursion to the mortal plane and dragged Happousai off to the netherworld.

Her exit was timed with a light coming from the Tendo hallway. The mirror shimmering like a pool of mercury, a figure dressed in a blue skirt and mauve sweater emerged from the reflective surface.

"Urd!" a gentle and most pleasant feminine voice called out.

"Belldandy!" the platinum haired goddess recognised who it was and called out to her sister.

"Father really wants to see you. He says that you have a few things to explain," the figure said, walking towards the table.

"What? I was merely helping Ranma fulfil his destiny," Urd replied in her best innocent voice.

"Yes, but you told a few lies about your engagement to Ranma. Father is not happy about that," Belldandy explained as she bowed to the Tendos and sat opposite her sister.

Urd sighed in resignation. "Ok, Sis, it's a fair cop. I'll face my punishment like an adult."

* * *

"I never realised what a nice view all them astronauts had," Ranma idly commented as he watched the blue planet beneath him shrink. 

"Yes," Amane smiled as she recalled her first trip off-world. "Take a seat, we'll be leaving the solar system in a minute."

After the ship completed its FTL jump, Ranma's stomach grumbled at its emptiness.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that," he apologised.

Amane smiled at the embarrassed martial artist. "I suppose that lunchtime is nearly upon us."

* * *

In the underworld, Mara was being praised for prize she had returned with. 

"My dear Mara, I've been looking forward to some quality time with the new arrival," her immediate superior gave the hogtied Happousai a smile.

Not just any smile, but one that would cause even the bravest of warrior-gods to reconsider their choice of vocations.

Happousai squirmed, trying to free his mouth to bargain.

He won a reprieve when a new figure entered the room.

Well, it was more like a stay of execution.

"Mara, how was your trip to the mortal plane?" Hild asked her niece.

"I met this cute guy, but he was dragged off by some alien slut. He seemed really nice and innocent," the blonde demoness grumbled.

Hild smiled then shook her head, well aware that many of the denizens of the infernal realms had "things" for tempting the more naïve members of the opposite sex. The sight of the squirming bundle caught her attention.

"What is that?"

"Happousai. He summoned me, and then tried to back out of the deal. It was one of those 'if someone offers their soul to save others, then I have to take a soul' deals. It was that or go on a destructive rampage," Mara explained.

"THE Happousai? Well, I do believe that we have some special treatments for him. Take him away to the Ironic Punishment Room, D'tesh. I want to talk with my niece," Hild instructed.

* * *

Elsewhere, Urd was being subjected to questioning with regard to her handling of Nodoka Saotome's wish. 

"So then Urd, you maintain that your actions concerning the young Saotome were actually to help him in his destiny."

"Yes Father. If Ranma had been forced to marry one of the girls from Nerima, then I feel that he would have been shackled either to a dojo, restaurant, rural village or a bed," Urd explained. "If he is supposed to help bring peace to the galaxy, then being stuck here on Earth is not going to allow it to happen."

"A valid point, especially if we are to look at just how the events of Ranma's life have made him stronger. And he will need all of his strength."

Urd smiled at the praise.

"However," voice of her father rang out in an authoritative baritone, "you deliberately mislead several mortals about your relationship with Ranma."

'Uh oh,' Urd winced internally. She had just realised that the interview/debriefing/interrogation had been going a bit too well.

"His mother, for example, is under the impression that you are engaged to be married. Is there anything you would to tell us about that?"

"Well, I err, needed to," Urd fumbled for words momentarily. A flash of inspiration hit her. "What I meant, Father, is that I needed to ensure to Saotome-san's safety at a critical point in his life."

"Yes, I'm aware of the incident just before the Saotomes visited China. But you are aware that divine and infernal promises are not to be made or taken lightly. You engaged yourself to a mortal, that's not something I would have expected from you, Urd," Urd's father said, his voice calming the goddess.

"So now what?" Urd asked, bracing herself for punishment.

"This is an awkward situation to say the least. On the one hand," the seated male gestured with his left hand, "you promised that you'd marry Ranma, a promise which you don't seem too upset about. However, on the other, he offered himself to Mara in order to save the others in Nerima. It would seem that Ranma has made his decision for us, that Mara's contract is the binding one."

"But there's something else," Urd interrupted. She would do everything she could to prevent a loss to Mara. "He's not with Mara right now, he's with some alien woman that's trying to convince him to join their police force."

"I know. Could you possibly have put me in worse position over this boy?"

Urd laughed nervously, deciding that it was not a good idea to say "at least we're not pregnant with his children".

"I know what you're thinking Urd, and yes it's a good thing that you're not with child. I'll have to speak with Hild, perhaps she will be able to suggest something suitable."

* * *

At the same time, Ranma was being given the "dime tour" of the nearest Galaxy Police installation to Earth. 

"And over there we have the holding cells," Amane pointed to her left.

Ranma saw that the cells were sparsely populated, though the inhabitants were dangerous looking.

"Ah, Detective Kaunaq, it's good to see you again. Is this the young man that helped you catch Saffron?" A woman who appeared to be around thirty years old with green hair rose from her seat and approached Amane and her travelling companion.

"Yes, Ranma Saotome, meet Chairwoman Airi of the Galaxy Police," Amane introduced the pair.

"A pleasure to meet you, Saotome-san," Airi said with a bow.

"Please, call me Ranma," Ranma replied, matching the bow.

"Ok Ranma-san. If you'll be so kind as to step into this office, we can have our discussion."

* * *

In someplace unpleasant for most creatures, Mara was explaining why she felt a bit gypped at losing Ranma to the Alien Floozy or even worse, her rival Urd. 

"The way he jumped in to save the others without a thought to his own safety was so noble," the younger demoness gushed.

Hild sighed, it seemed that her niece had a major crush on this Saotome kid.

"That's one way to put it. Another is that he's a bit stupid."

Mara snorted. "Stupid? He's learnt enough techniques to beat Saffron!"

"That doesn't mean that he knows how to program a VCR, Mara. But let's see what he looks like again."

Mara handed the unconvinced relative a picture of Ranma in a fighting stance, the same one he was in when she was summoned by Happousai.

"Perhaps he might not be totally irredeemable," Hild casually commented. Though she wouldn't have said "no" to Ranma if he was to ask her out.

Mara easily saw through her aunt's dismissive façade. "Yeah, well look at this."

Hild was now handed a picture of a shirtless Ranma working out.

"Oh my."

"Yeah. Can I have that back now?"

"In a moment."

A minor demon knocked on the door. "Excuse me, but Mistress Hild has a call for her. I believe that it's important."

Hild nodded, before reluctantly handing her niece the picture of Ranma back.

* * *

"If you don't mind me asking, Ma'am, why is the Chief of the Galaxy Police here at this outpost and not at headquarters?" Ranma asked, the politeness causing him to sweat slightly. 

"Well, normally I would be at the main facility, but I was conducting a minor morale boosting tour out here," the woman answered.

The response made some sense to Ranma, who had recently read the Art of War at the request of his mother. Nodoka had hoped that the ancient strategy guide would help the pigtailed martial artist plan for his future a bit better. And for Nodoka, that future included a number of grandchildren running around the house.

"I hear that you had a bit of a run in with Saffron. Could you tell me anything about that?" Airi asked.

Ranma took a deep breath before explaining about the latest incident involving a kidnapping attempt on Akane.

* * *

"Yeah, what'd ya want?" Hild spoke with a noticeable disdain for her caller. 

>Hild, it's me,> the being known in some circles as Kami-sama barely introduced himself.

"What can I do you for?" Hild asked, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

>It's about your niece, Mara. Something's come up.>

"Let me guess, it's about that Saotome kid?"

>Got it in one. Now what do you want to do about him? The divine contract should take precedence, as it was made first, but the infernal agreement was made by his own free will. However, you have Happousai as a sacrifice and Ranma is currently keeping an extraterrestrial company on her ship.>

"Crap. This kid's a real trouble maker, isn't he?"

>I wouldn't worry about that too much: I have a feeling he won't be returning to Earth anytime soon.>

* * *

At the GP outpost, Ranma was finishing up the vastly abridged version of his most recent adventure. 

"Well, you certainly have led an interesting life, Ranma," commented the Chief.

"Yeah, well, you know how it is," Ranma smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, having met you at last, I would like to offer you a role in the Galaxy Police. I won't lie to you Ranma, it's not an easy life. You'd be risking your life on a regular basis."

"The pay's good, though," Amane added, hoping to convince Ranma to join the GP.

Before Ranma could answer one way or the other, the whole station started to shake, causing everyone on board to be thrown to the floor.

Amane whipped out her laser pistol, and gestured for the others to stay down. "I'll take a look, you stay here."

Creeping to the door, the detective opened it, only to be confronted by the muzzle of a laser rifle.

"Don't move, babe. I'd hate to ruin those looks of yours."

"Shit," Amane cursed.

A shout of "Mokou Takabisha!" sounded from behind the crouching woman.

The blast of green energy slammed into the chest of the invader, knocking him to the floor and leaving the would-be raider unconscious.

"What the hell was that?" Amane asked, turning around to face Ranma.

"A ki blast. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. We need to find out what's going on here, stay close." Amane led the others out of the office.

Crouching as they covered the ground to the command post, Ranma noted that several of the unformed officers had been killed and many more wounded in the attack.

Not wanting to allow the women he had just met to get hurt, Ranma quickly took point and disabled several raiders in a matter of moments.

"He's good," the chairwoman commented. "He'd be an asset to the force."

Amane got the hint. "I'll do what I can, Chief."

* * *

Elsewhere, away from the prying eyes of mere mortals, an agreement was being hammered out with regards to the future of on Ranma Saotome.

Kami-sama sat with his daughter to his right and Hild and her niece to his left.

"I have good news and bad. The bad news is that having reviewed both of your cases, I'm declaring them both null and void."

Mara was understandably upset about this. "What do you mean 'null and void'? He made his choice to come with me! And I need a willing sacrifice!"

"And I'm supposed to be engaged to him!" Urd added. "You keep drumming the importance of divine promises into me."

"Wrong, my dear Urd. We did some research, just to be sure about the whole situation. What you did was engage your DAUGHTER, who apparently is called Urd, to Ranma," Hild explained. "And there is a slight problem with the contract, there was a misprint, ANY soul will do as the payment. And payment has been filled with the soul of Happousai."

This deflated the girls slightly as planned, and Kami-sama decided that he'd give them the opportunity to get what they wanted.

"The good news is that both Urd and Mara will be given the chance to court Ranma, if that is what you desire. He will make the decision using his own free will. If he chooses neither of you, then I'm sorry, but it'll be a case of 'better luck next time'. Are there any objections?"

As both Urd and Mara considered the deal, a thought occurred to the demonic suitor.

"How will we be in the right place at the right time to meet up with Ranma?" Mara asked. "It's all very well and good saying 'go for it', but he's on the other side of the galaxy and that does not make for an easy commute. I don't have to remind any of you about the mechanics of summoning infernal beings."

"I am allowing a modification to the Yggdrasill system. When it has been completed, you will both have been 'written in' as natives to the inhabitants with a complete historical record and memory of everybody that works around you. You will retain all of your knowledge but your powers will be limited."

"So basically it's 'Anything Goes' when it comes to convincing him?" Mara asked. "Assuming that we can convince him on our own, that is."

"Yes."

"Is there a time limit?" Urd asked.

"No, there is not. The contest, for lack of a better term, is over when Ranma makes his choice about whoever he wants to spend the rest of his life with."

"Ok, I'll give it a go," Urd confidently smiled at the others in the room.

"I'm not going to give up Ranma to you without a fight," Mara sneered at the goddess, "I'm in."

"Right then, I'll allow you to make your preparations."

After the friendly rivals departed, Hild turned to her old acquaintance.

"There's more to this then you're telling them, isn't there?"

"Yes."

Hild was quickly reminded of her dislike of Kami-sama's mysterious ways and glared at him. "That was a hint for you to tell me what Ranma's destiny is. I know that Urd mentioned that it was to bring some more order to the galaxy, but I don't think that you'd be involved unless there was something else."

"You are quite right, Hild. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to swear you to secrecy on this."

"Ooh, now I have to know," Hild insisted.

Kami-sama sighed. "Well, it involves both Urd and Mara…"

* * *

Aboard the GP outpost, Ranma was watching the blonde detective interrogate one of the captured pirates.

"Well, what are you after?"

"I ain't telling you nuthin'!" The pirate defiantly spat in Amane's face.

Ranma moved the seething detective to one side as he stepped up to the restrained man.

"Really. Perhaps we should talk in private," the pigtailed martial artist suggested as he cracked his knuckles.

"You can't touch me, you have rules!"

"They do, but I don't," Ranma smiled evilly. "You might want to start talkin' very soon, I took down Saffron."

"What THE Saffron?"

"Yep." Ranma smirked when he saw the yellow puddle form.

"Now where were we?" Amane asked the prone man. "Ah yes, you were telling me what it was that you were looking for."

"A seed."

"Seeds?" Amane asked sceptically. "You expect me to believe that you came and attacked this out post just for a shipment of seeds?"

"Not a shipment, but one seed. A special one."

This caught Airi's attention. "What's so special about this seed? Why would you risk your lives for it?"

"I don't know what it's supposed to grow into, but I know that it's worth a lot of money," the pirate confessed.

Airi, however, knew what the seed would grow into. 'This is not good,' she thought, panicking slightly.

"And who told you that there'd be a seed here?" Amane demanded.

"I ain't telling you!"

"Ranma, would you be a darling and help me get some answers, pretty please?" Amane turned to the pigtailed boy and pouted cutely.

Ranma ignored the come-on, but stepped up and grabbed the pirate's left hand. "How many people died in this raid?"

"A dozen or so, it depends on who survives surgery," Airi answered. "Why?"

"Just curious," Ranma replied innocently as he selected the raider's little finger and tugged.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!"

"Ranma!"

"I only dislocated his finger!" he protested before turning to the man on the floor. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell the pretty ladies?"

"I don't know anything, 'cept there's a mole!"

"Mole?" Amane asked the injured man.

The pirate added nothing more until his ring finger was selected by Ranma. "There's a mole in the GP headquarters that's been feeding us information. I don't know who it is, or where he's based. Honest!"

Ranma smiled at the panicky man. "Thanks."

Airi turned to Amane. "This is not good, Amane. I'm not just talking about the spy."

Amane was curious about what kind of seed would cause Airi to panic. "What's so special about this seed?"

Airi Masaki moved Amane to the corner away from the others before whispering her answer. "We've got a third generation Jurain tree seed here on the station."

"What? Why? When? How?" Amane asked, flabbergasted.

"There's been a foul up with some paperwork and it was sent here. I've been to retrieve the seed for Lady Seto," Airi explained.

"So that's the real reason for your visit."

"Officially, I'm on a moral boosting tour and I'm interviewing the man who helped you capture Saffron." Airi sighed. "I'd like to get back to Academy space before the pirates try again."

"I don't blame you."

The ladies turned back to Ranma and asked him if he wanted to join the GP.

"It would mean leaving home, Ranma-kun," Airi pointed out, "Possibly forever, but you would be helping people in need."

"Pops did say that protecting the weak is a martial artist's duty. I'll do it."

* * *

To be continued…

This chapter was pre-read by Chi Vayne.

Why am I included O!MG elements? Well, I am of the opinion that there aren't enough Ranma/Urd match-ups. I was trying to write one with Mara as Urd's rival for Ranma, when I had the idea of adding in GXP.

There will be a few AU elements for O!MG as well as Tenchi. You will see them in later chapters, assuming you want me to continue this story.

Until laterer comes.


	3. Round Three: New starter question

Nibunnoichi! GXP!

By Lord Raa

Part three

* * *

Disclaim-me-do: I bet this never happened to Flash Gordon. 

I want to make this as clear as I can: – there will be major differences in the timelines for GXP/Tenchi Muyo and O!MG. Hopefully, the changes will be made clear in forthcoming chapters and I won't have to spend too much time writing things in author's notes.

* * *

"You'll do it?" Airi asked Ranma, wanting to be entirely sure that the young man knew what he was getting himself in for. "Even if it means never being able to live on Earth again?" 

"Yes," Ranma nodded. "Back home all I did was upset everyone, but here I can help people."

Amane smiled, but said nothing as she prepared their prisoner for transport back to the GP headquarters.

"Read this." Airi handed Ranma some of the paperwork that he needed to sign.

Ranma flicked through the document, not really understanding some of the details. Ok, so it was mostly incomprehensible to him.

Having been tricked several times by Nabiki, Ranma asked Airi what the bits he didn't understand actually meant.

Airi sighed, Ranma might have excellent physical capabilities, but it seemed that Amane could have found a smarter recruit.

"What this means is…"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Nerima ward of Tokyo, Nodoka Saotome was preparing to drag her less than honest husband home by the scruff of his neck. 

"We need to talk, Genma."

The part time panda gulped.

A ringing of a bicycle bell seemed to save Genma's hide, at least for a little while longer.

"Airen?" Shampoo called out, hoping to make nice with her wayward fiancé.

"Ranma's not here," Kasumi explained as she continued to hang out the washing.

"Where is Ranma?" Shampoo asked the oldest Tendo girl.

"He's not in Tokyo anymore," Nabiki added, stepping outside for some fresh air. "In fact, he left the planet."

"What Sneaky Girl talking about?" Shampoo demanded. "How can Ranma leave planet? He no astronaut."

Nabiki just held her hand out.

Shampoo growled, but pulled out her purse. "How much?"

"Ooh, I think that three thousand yen should cover it," Nabiki grinned at the Chinese girl.

After counting the money, Nabiki sat the Amazon down and explained what had happened to Ranma.

When Shampoo heard what had happened; she turned to the mercenary Tendo. "You let Ranma get taken?"

"There was a demon that wanted to take Kasumi away!" Nabiki shouted at the purple haired girl. "What did you expect us to do? Just stand there and let Kasumi suffer in Hell for all eternity?"

Shampoo hadn't seen this side of Nabiki before and, to be honest, she found it quite disturbing.

Neither had Nodoka, who had walked by with a panda in tow. 'Perhaps Nabiki would have made a suitable wife for Ranma?'

"I thought you say that Ranma with alien husband stealer?" Shampoo asked, puzzled as to the whole truth about Ranma's disappearance. "So what demon have to do with Ranma going away?"

"There was a demon that wanted Kasumi's soul, but Ranma offered his. There was also a goddess that said she was engaged to Ranma," Nabiki explained. "This alien wanted to talk with Ranma about what happened with Saffron. That's why Ranma's not here anymore: he's with her."

The whole situation sounded suspicious to Shampoo, but with how Ranma's life normally went, this wasn't outside the realm of possibility. "I be back in a bit," the normally cheerful girl said to Nabiki.

* * *

In the domain of deities and other immortal troublemakers, Urd was talking with her sisters and mother. 

"So why are you interested in this Ranma, Urd?" Belldandy asked naively.

Skuld knew that her oldest sister was a bit weird when it came to boys, often sizing them up like they were pieces of meat and rolled her eyes. "It seems that Nee-chan thinks that Ranma is a bit tasty."

"You're not planning on eating poor Ranma, are you?" Bell asked, aghast. Divine beings didn't go around consuming mortals these days, did they?

"What? No!" Urd shouted. It dawned on her that Belldandy had no idea why anyone would want to be close to Ranma, and that was why her relationship with Keiichi had barely progressed. One thing that was not on her list of things to do was have to explain carnal desires to her innocent sisters. "He's a nice guy."

"So is Keiichi-kun," Hild pointed out with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, but he doesn't have such a cute ass or the stamina to last for hours in the bedroom," Urd admitted. The Norn of the past's face fell when she realised what she just said. "I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yes you did, dear daughter," Hild stated with no small amount of amusement in her voice. "The truth is now out in the open, and what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to help Ranma fulfil his destiny!" Urd insisted with her hands on her hips. That the aforementioned destiny might involve much in the way of her engaging in some legendary lovemaking with Ranma was completely immaterial.

"What could you possibly be doing with someone that would last for hours in the bedroom?" Skuld asked Belldandy.

"Other than cleaning, I can't think of much, Skuld," Belldandy answered with a light blush. It seemed that the lovely Belldandy was not completely ignorant of adult activities.

But that may have been something to do with her finding one of Keiichi's (slightly less) dirty magazines, rather than a firsthand knowledge like Urd or Hild.

"Well, I'm off to visit Nodoka on Earth," Urd said before her mother could embarrass her sisters. Not that that wouldn't be most amusing, but she felt the need to speak with the people in Nerima before she left for her new life of adventure.

* * *

Nodoka helped her friend Kasumi with the rest of the laundry, knowing full well that Genma was only half way through his punishment and needed to heal slightly before she could start the next phase. 

Two of Nerima's Chinese community bounded over the wall to the Tendo's back yard.

"Oh, welcome Elder Cologne," Kasumi bowed to the elder.

"Greetings, my child. I'm here to clear up the confusion surrounding Ranma," Cologne said with a mild tone of annoyance in her voice.

"And what confusion is there?" Nodoka asked the pair of visitors.

"Shampoo was told that Ranma is no longer on the planet," said the wizened old lady.

"That's true," Nodoka confirmed. "He's fulfilling his destiny as a man among men, helping those that need assistance."

"He needs to marry my great-granddaughter," Cologne insisted. "Our laws are absolute."

"Really?" a new, yet familiar voice called out.

"Yes," Cologne snapped as she spun around to face the newcomer. The human prune managed to not fall off her cane in surprise at the aura of the woman.

"But how are you going to consummate the marriage with Ranma being on the other side of the known universe?" Urd asked with a smirk.

"So it's true that Ranma is no longer with us?" Cologne demanded, momentarily forgetting what her senses screamed at her about the platinum haired woman.

"Ranma is currently on his way to the Galaxy Police headquarters," Urd explained. "He's going to enrol there as a cadet, as am I."

"Oh my, you're going to be with Ranma-kun?" asked Kasumi.

"That's the plan. Assuming that Nodoka here doesn't object to me keeping an eye on him," Urd gave the Saotome matriarch a slightly pleading look.

"Of course I don't mind," Nodoka said with a huge smile on her face. "I think that Ranma could use someone who's a bit more worldly and sophisticated to look out for him. He's a sweet boy, but he doesn't have much of a clue about the world outside of martial arts and food."

"That's true," Cologne admitted. "But he still must marry Shampoo!"

"No. Wrong. Not going to happen," Urd patronised the old dear. "Besides, what would you have done if I hadn't shown up and saved him from being dragged to the depths of Hell?"

An uncomfortable silence reigned over the Tendo yard.

"I thought so. Well, if it's any consolation, Happousai won't be bothering you anymore. He should be suffering as we speak," Urd smiled evilly at the Amazons.

Nodoka smiled as she considered Urd's words and looked the goddess over. "Yes, Urd. I think you and Ranma would have beautiful babies together."

"But Shampoo must marry Ranma!" Shampoo protested. "Not new husband-stealer!"

"Yes, our laws are quite clear on the matter," Cologne tried a last ditch attempt to win the day for her heir.

"Heh, no!" Urd told the Amazons. "You think that people should support you claim for Ranma because of your laws?"

"Why shouldn't they? Our laws have existed along with our tribe for three thousand years. Simply because they work," Cologne began her history lesson.

"Yes, but I recall hearing about Shampoo chasing after Ranma, not to kiss him, but to kill him. Are you really expecting people to just stand by while you murder people?" Nodoka asked the old hag.

"Laws are laws," a narrow-eyed Cologne told Nodoka.

"Yes, and ours say you can't go around killing people who best you in a tournament. I might have considered allowing Ranma to marry Shampoo, but certainly not now, not after hearing that you would have killed a girl for being a better fighter," Nodoka said with an unmistakable tone of finality.

Had Cologne been a few decades younger, she might have attacked Mrs. Saotome for slighting her tribe. Instead it was Shampoo that reacted rashly.

Grabbing the laundry basket that lay at her feet, Nodoka armed herself. Judging the distance, she swung the moulded plastic and hit the Amazon on the chin, stunning her.

Calmly standing over the momentarily incapacitated girl, Nodoka asked, "I take it that you are now going to attempt to kill me for beating you?"

"Shampoo not beaten yet!" the Amazon growled.

"Shampoo!" Cologne bellowed at her great-granddaughter. "Stop this instant!"

The shrivelled Amazon turned to face Nodoka. "I see your plan: – if Ranma finds out that we did something to harm you, then he'd make sure that we paid for it. It seems that you are more cunning than we first thought. But since Ranma is not on this planet anymore, we have nothing to fear."

"Oh, I think that you do, you arrogant old bat," said Mara as she appeared next to Nodoka. "You pride yourself on your independence from the Chinese government, but what would happen if all of your crops failed for the next, ooh, 15 years?"

"They'd starve," Urd said with a frown. She might not have liked the Amazon's attitudes to love, but she didn't like the sound of them being wiped out.

"Or they'd be forced to ask the outside world for assistance," Mara pointed out. "Say goodbye to three thousand years of history."

"And just how are you going to do that?" an angry Cologne demanded.

"I'm the demon that's got Happousai tied up in Hell. Would you like to join him?" Mara asked with a dangerous smile.

Cologne's face twitched ever so slightly at the beings in front of her. "No, I shall pass on that invitation."

"Why do you want Ranma so badly?" Urd asked teasingly.

"He'd be a great asset to the tribe," Cologne started to say, but changed her mind. "Why should I tell you?"

"No reason, I just wanted to know why someone of your importance in your village would spend so much time and effort trying to get Ranma, someone who clearly doesn't want to live in China. Can you think of a reason, Mara?"

"Hmm," Mara considered for a moment. "Petty revenge. I mean, she must have been training Shampoo for as long as Genma trained Ranma, but then surely that would mean that the fat panda must be a better teacher than the old hag here."

"Certainly more effective one," Urd agreed.

"GENMA SAOTOME IS NOT A BETTER TEACHER THAN ME!" Cologne bellowed at the friendly rivals as she twitched.

"Maybe not, but whose student managed to beat Herb?" Kasumi "innocently" asked.

"Who's this Herb?" Nodoka asked, not yet knowing all of Ranma's adventures in Nerima.

"Herb is a descendant of a dragon," Cologne explained. "He is a master of using his ki in combat, both as a weapon and as a means of flight."

"And Ranma defeated him when he was locked in his cursed form," Kasumi added.

"I see, so Ranma is truly a Man among Men to be able to defeat dragons," Nodoka sighed happily.

"Yes," Mara agreed. Then she remembered why she was there. "Mrs. Saotome, would you mind terribly if I asked Ranma out?"

Nodoka looked at the Mara, her eyes appraising the infernal being's body and its language. "Would there be grandchildren in the near future?"

"That depends on when Ranma gets me pregnant," Mara said absently.

Urd's eye twitched. "They've barely met and she's planning on having his babies."

"I think that sounds wonderful," Nodoka smiled when she overheard Urd's comment. "Yes, by all means ask my son out, both of you. Allow Ranma to make an informed choice."

"I know just the thing for that," Urd and Mara said at the same time. They looked at each other, glared and then made their own way back home.

"I think that your business here is concluded," Nodoka said as she turned to face the Amazons.

* * *

Back in the place where mortals are forbidden to tread, Mara and Urd were preparing for their journey to the other side of the galaxy. Standing with them was Urd's family. 

"The portal on the right is for you, Urd. The one on the left is for Mara," Kami-sama explained.

The friendly rivals nodded, and took deep breaths. As the divine and infernal rivals stepped through their respective portals that led to the other side of the galaxy, a creature that looked like a cross between a spider and a cartoon rabbit hopped across the Yggdrasill programming room and decided that the trailing cables there were a good choice for its next meal.

"Oh my!" Belldandy called out when she saw the frayed cabling behind the computer station.

"What is it, Belldandy?" Hild asked.

"It's these wires," Bell answered, holding the offending items up.

"That's Bug damage," Skuld pointed out. "Who knows what's happened to them?"

"I do," the Supreme Being said with a pleasant smile.

"What do you mean, Father?" Belldandy asked, concerned for her older sister.

"I mean that Mara is fulfilling part of her destiny. It's all part of the Cosmic Play. I can't tell you any more at the moment, but I can assure you that everything will work out fine for your sister and her friend."

* * *

For good reason, Mara had prepared for her new life as a Space Pirate. And so she was mightily surprised to find herself in the Galaxy Police's academy instead of the Pirate Guild's headquarters. 

"What am I doing here?" she asked rhetorically, her eyes darting from walls to floor to ceiling, taking in all of the details.

"I don't know," Urd replied from beside her. "We were supposed to be on different planets, not here together as cadets."

Mara sighed in frustration. 'This is all I need. I can't be living with these goody-two-shoes, I'll go mad.'

Urd didn't like the situation either. She'd hoped to use her position as Ranma's classmate to her advantage, before the two of them encountered Mara out in the field. She knew full well that Ranma would need help on the academic parts of his training and she had a plan for him to repay her for her help.

"Since we're here now, we might as well make the best of a bad situation," Mara said to her long term rival. "Want to be my roommate?"

"Might as well," Urd agreed. "Better the devil you know, after all."

"Ha ha," Mara said sarcastically as she held her sides. "It's a good thing I'm wearing a corset."

"Why are you wearing that, anyway?" Urd asked, gesturing to the lacy purple and black garment.

"I think a better question is 'why haven't you changed out of that evening dress?'" Mara countered with a smirk.

"This is part of my normal wardrobe," Urd insisted, referring to her slinky black dress. "Your corset is new."

"Yes it is, thanks for noticing. Do you think that Ranma will like it?" Mara asked as she twirled around to show her rival. The demoness filled out the piece of lingerie nicely, much to the appreciation of the local males.

Urd sighed, she really didn't want to admit it, but the blonde woman did look very nice dressed as she was. Then inspiration struck. "Probably, no-one seems to know what Ranma's taste in women is. I mean he's had a number of very attractive women throw themselves at him with no reaction "South of the Border"."

"He's not gay is he?" Mara asked,

Urd just shrugged, not really knowing herself.

Mara frowned, her plans would have to be altered from what she had envisaged, if it turned out that Ranma swung the other way. Though she could understand any "gender confusion" from the Saotome child.

* * *

With everyone safely aboard the Chairwoman's ship, they made their way back to GP headquarters. 

The journey was wholly unremarkable, aside from the fact that when they reached Jurain space, they received an escort from the infamous Devil Princess of Jurai, Lady Seto.

Of course, no-one referred to Lady Seto as the "Devil Princess" to her face; that was considered to be a well known faux pas. But that could be said of anyone whose signature move was called the "Genocide Dance".

Lady Seto invited Amane, Airi and Ranma aboard her ship for tea and a chat. Ranma's fight with Saffron had reached even the court of Jurai. She'd also spoken with Airi Masaki about Ranma's involvement in retrieval of the seed and Seto wanted to see what all the fuss about this young man was for herself.

As one of her assistants led the trio of guests to the Mikigami's park-like interior, Lady Seto stood up to greet them all.

"Greetings, Mister Saotome," Seto bowed.

"Hello, er," Ranma struggled to remember the name of his host.

Amane whispered the right name in his left ear.

"Lady Seto. Thank you for inviting us aboard your… ship?" Ranma added, looking around. "Are we still on board the Mikigami?"

"Technically no. We're in a subspace pocket, that's why this are is bigger than the outside of the ship. Now, sit down and tell me about yourself," Seto gestured to the seats.

"Well, where to begin?" Ranma asked. "I recently finished my training in the Saotome School of Anything Goes…"

And so Ranma filled in the Devil Princess of Jurai on the major events of his life, starting with his curse.

"Ah yes, I've heard something about this curse of yours. Could you demonstrate it?" Seto asked.

"If I could have some hot and cold water," Ranma agreed.

When the water arrived, Ranma displayed his transformation, much to the interest of Seto and her advisors.

"And you say that this is magic?"

"Yes, my Pop has one, he turns into a panda."

"I think that Washu would like to examine you," Seto said with a grin that made Ranma feel uncomfortable.

"Lady Seto, are you sure?" her male assistant, Kanemitsu Hirata, asked. Washu might be the greatest scientific mind in the galaxy, but her cabbits weren't all mewing in chorus.

"I think that she should be able to assist Mr. Saotome, don't you?" she asked in a dangerous tone.

"If Lady Seto thinks it best," Kanemitsu apologised.

"I do. Now what happened after you found yourself in China?" Seto asked as she sipped her tea.

"Well," Ranma started his life's story.

* * *

A few hours later, with everyone that was going to the GP Academy safely aboard the Chairwoman's ship, Airi ordered them to set off for home. 

A short distance into their return journey, an automated distress signal was picked up by one of the bridge crew and Airi was alerted.

"Where's it coming from?" the Chairwoman asked. "We need to get back as soon as possible. The induction to the Academy is in a few days."

"It's a small distance from out current position, Ma'am. We can investigate and back on course in less then half an hour. Depending on what assistance is needed."

"Ok, change course and investigate."

Ranma, sitting in his quarters, looked up from his information booklet on the Galaxy Police when he heard the bridge page him.

Strolling up to Airi and Amane, Ranma asked them what was going on.

"We've picked up a distress signal," Amane answered.

"You mentioned that you wanted to help people, and I thought that you should see what part of the job entailed," Airi clarified.

"Oh, fair enough," Ranma shrugged.

The stricken vessel came into view on the main screen, causing the bridge crew to wince when they saw the damage that had been caused.

"Hail them," Airi ordered.

"Yes Ma'am," a non-descript, male junior officer replied.

* * *

Aboard her ship, Ryoko Balta was relieved to hear that help was on the way, even if it was the GP. "Oh well, I guess it's just an occupational hazard. Make sure our disguise fields are in place before putting them on screen, please." 

Chairwoman Airi's face appeared on the screen, much to Ryoko's consternation. "It had to be one of the top people in the GP, didn't it?" Ryoko asked rhetorically. "Hi there."

"¬ Hello,¬ " Airi greeted. " ¬What can we do for you? ¬"

"We got caught in an ion storm, and as you can see, we're in trouble," Ryoko smiled at the police when she saw Ranma standing on the bridge.

Ranma seemed to take the strange appearance of the damaged ship's crew in his stride, something that made Amane swell slightly with pride.

" ¬What help do you need for your repairs? ¬" Airi asked, wanting to get on her way as soon as possible.

"Our chief engineer was injured, do you think you could send someone to look at our environmental systems?"

"¬You're leaking atmosphere?¬" Airi asked concern evident in her voice.

"We don't know for sure. One system thinks so, but the environmental readout says we're fine," Ryoko answered.

"¬ Best err on the side of caution. I'll send some people over now.¬ "

* * *

Tarant Shank made his way to the bridge of his ship; he'd been called there because of a nearby damaged vessel. He had standing orders to be notified about such things on the assumption that the ship had a valuable cargo and a half decent resale value. 

He was not expecting to receive the update that there was a GP ship rendering assistance upon his arrival at his chair.

"What's the value of the damaged ship?" he demanded from one of the console operators.

"It looks like it's a new ship. I'd need to look at the damage sustained before I can give you a monetary guesstimate. I can't tell if it's got cargo at the moment, they're venting atmosphere and it's clouding the sensors," the dark blue haired man answered.

"What can you tell me about the GP ship? It doesn't look like a combat vessel," Shank noted.

"It seems to be a yacht type. I doubt that there are a lot of weapons on it," the sensor operator replied.

"Then, I think we should go in on a two pronged attack. I'll lead the boarding action," Shank decided. "Shiv, you take care of that GP ship. Scare it off if you can, but you know it won't be too big of a shame if they all die."

"Understood."

* * *

To be continued… 

This chapter was pre-read by Chi Vayne, and probably didn't hint at many of the AU changes that I mentioned the pre-story notes. You'll have to wait for those. I think I'll include a major one in the second half of the next chapter.

Assuming that nothing drastic happens to me, you know, like the world ending or me spontaneously combusting.

Are there any questions or comments?

You should know how to contact me by now.

Until laterer comes.


End file.
